Round Trip is your weekly roundup of what’s been happening in the passenger experience and airline ancillary revenue space. Here are the top stories from this past week:
Brussels Airlines, subsidiary of Lufthansa, is to be integrated into Eurowings, Lufthansa’s low-cost carrier. However, for the time being, Brussels Airlines is to keep its brand. The company wants to focus on what the markets dictate for the brand. Bernard Gustin, CEO, says that they are not going to jump to a large and expensive brand overhaul if it doesn’t bring anything to the customer at the end of the day.
By mid-2019, Virgin Australia is planning to have wi-fi connectivity expanded throughout their entire fleet. Optus Satellite Internet will power internet access with GoGo for the in-flight connectivity. Passengers travelling on domestic flights will receive ‘basic’ free wi-fi with the ability to upgrade to packages with higher speeds. International flights will still offer wi-fi but it will not have a free tier.
Bulgarian Eagle, a new aircraft-crew-maintenance-insurance (ACMI) carrier has recently received its AOC from Bulgaria’s aviation authorities. As a result, the company is planning on strengthening their wet lease operations and believe Bulgarian Eagle can make services available to other airlines as its fleet expands.